Larry Stuefloten defied easy categorization. A man of quick humor who could laugh at practical jokes played at his own expense, he was also an astute police administrator.

A keen competitor who looked like a muscular surfer, he was also a talented painter. In retirement, the ambitious ex-cop found satisfaction teaching handicapped kids to swim.

The former San Jose deputy chief of police, 75, died of a massive heart attack on Labor Day while walking his daughter’s dog in Foothill Ranch, an Orange County community.

In recent years, he had split his time between Southern California, where his three grown children live, and the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Because of his deep roots in San Jose — he was a longtime member of the San Jose Athletic Club and St. Christopher’s Catholic parish — he was an easily recognizable figure.

“He was a very smart guy, and he had his opinions, but I think he really enjoyed his life,” said one of his best friends, former Assistant Police Chief Tom Wheatley. “He was just a great guy.”

Stuefloten, who had been seen as a potential chief himself, retired from the San Jose Police Department in 1987 after a clash with then-chief Joseph McNamara, who had promoted him to deputy chief.

In 1986, Stuefloten wrote a memo that questioned whether the department correctly handled the case of an officer who was allegedly high on cocaine and threatened to kill himself.

After a lengthy investigation, Stuefloten was placed on paid leave. He finally retired after 28 years with the force, taking a $47,000 yearly pension and finding a new passion in landscape painting. At his death, he left behind 27 crates of art.

Born in San Jose on November 11, 1937, Stuefloten was the son of Dorothy Stuefloten, a nurse’s aide at Valley Medical Center, and Clifford Stuefloten, a salesman.

After graduating from James Lick High School in 1955 and San Jose State University in 1959, he joined the San Jose police, rising swiftly to become the youngest lieutenant in the department’s history.

As a veteran San Jose officer, he was present at some key moments in the city’s history, including the alleged stoning of then-candidate Richard M. Nixon outside the Civic Auditorium in 1968. Among other things, he supervised field operations and the detective unit.

More in Obituaries

Friends said he had gigs in Tokyo and Europe, at the festival equivalents of Woodstock for electronic music. But he liked going back to his roots and would still be seen at smaller venues and was part of the Katabatik music collective.

LONDON — Musician Greg Lake co-founded both King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer — bands that helped define the sprawling, influential but often-maligned genre known as progressive rock. Lake, who died of cancer at 69, was instrumental in bringing classical influences, epic length, mythic scope and 1970s excess into rock ‘n’ roll, winning millions of fans before punk swept...